I’ve never really been bit by the “back to The Land” bug. I’m more of a soft-hands, panty-waist kind of guy.
But I happened to run across the Olde Englishe measurement unit of the “hide”, which Wikipedia defines as “A unit of yield, rather than area, it measured the amount of land able to support a single household for agricultural and taxation purposes.” One hide, again according to The Wiki, is 60-120 acres. Um, wow. OK. That’s a lot of land.
I have often felt that, with the rise of “organic” farming, we should be able to feed the country without having to resort to factory farming.
So this “one hide” business piqued my curiosity. I googled “how much land does it take to support a household”, and this was the first post.
The original poster had a more holistic view of the land; some crop, some lumber, some pasture, with a diverse set of livestock. Most of the commentators took more of a “all cows” slant, and there is various to and fro about direct marketing, etc.
It was this comment (hopefully the link works) that induced me to write this post.
This was one of the only commenters that seemed to speak to the spirit of what the original poster was talking about, which seems to be embodied by:
– As little monetary input as possible (no commercial feed, animals eat grass, grass grows from the seeds in the animal manure, which is spread by getting tromped on), keeps tax burden low and keeps one’s mind on how to make the animals and farm work for you, not the other way around
– have to keep areas for lumber, for crops, and for pasture (and having pasture land to rotate into is a good idea)
– it seems to be more about growing food for the family (and heating the house) than it is about cash crops, but it seems like you can’t really sustain it all without some cash crops
– add value and direct market
…
and the consensus seems to be that “one hide” really is about the minimum, although several posters comment that they’d be more comfy with ~1000 acres. I have a feeling that’s commercialized farming talking, though.
I stand by my previous “gut feeling”, that we should be able to feed the country sustainably. But I don’t know how. I don’t see how we could maintain the population density we have if it takes 60 acres to feed every 6 of us.
Interesting.
And daunting, for a not-aspiring-to-be-a gentleman farmer.
Interesting stuff. My hide would take a different shape because of where I live. Capital investments which I have already made, allow me to supply the family (only two now) with vegetables and meat. We do purchase some of these products so that we would have more variety in our diet. My capital investments include a 30-06 rifle and ammo, a fishing rod and reel, a piece of greenhouse plastic 50’x24’and some gardening tools. The majority of the meat we eat (deer & elk) comes from public and private forest lands surrounding my 2 acres and the river running along one side of the property. I have always jokingly said (not true) that our children didn’t know the taste of beef until they left home to go to college. The unheated greenhouse is necessary to grow warm weather crops such as tomatoes, peppers, squash and onion family plants. We live in a temperate rainforest where sunny days are pretty rare some summers. Other gardening areas total about 120″ X 60″ for pole beans, beets, potatoes, peas, fruit trees and varying berries. Corn is a waste of time and space here .so we purchase this. Fire wood is collected for the most part from public and private logging operations by getting wood cutting permits (usually around $25 ) to harvest that which is left behind. I guess what I am trying to say is that it makes a great deal of difference where you live and what local resources are available to you in your efforts to be self sustaining. I have never tried to be 100% self sustaining but have strived to provide healthy food for my family and to minimize the monetary resources needed to sustain our lifestyle. With the resources available in our area I am able to meet these goals with only a couple of acres of my own.
That should read 120 ft X 60 ft not in inches.